NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance will not change its nuclear alert level, coming after statements from Russia’s leadership. “We will always do what is needed to protect and defend our allies, but we don’t think there is any need now to change the alert levels of NATO’s nuclear forces,” Stoltenberg told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. Stoltenberg had just spoken to Polish President Andrzej Duda at an airbase in Lask, where U.S. and Polish fighter planes are stationed. Earlier this week, Russia has raised the specter of nuclear war after President Vladimir Putin issued a weekend order to raise his country’s strategic deterrence level, which includes the country’s nuclear arsenal. France, the UK, and the United States, which are NATO member states, possess nuclear members. “We strongly believe it’s reckless and irresponsible the way Russia is speaking about nuclear weapons,” Stoltenberg told the AP. Stoltenberg also stressed that Russia …